Campion defeat Old Harbour to lift ISSA U-16 basketball title

In a rematch of the Southern Conference final won by Campion, the boys from Hope Road triumphed once more over their south west St Catherine rivals despite losing talismanic player Daniel Isaacs, who fouled out in the fourth quarter.

It is an historic achievement for Campion whose only other major basketball title was at the Under-14 level.

Ryan Martell, Campion coach, was ecstatic.

“We are very excited and elated to be crowned national champions,” Martell said. “Becoming champions we played a worthy opponent in Old Harbour High. We recognize that they are a tough team and it wasn’t going to be an easy walkover.

“So we did an analysis of them and recognize that one of their strengths is the press as I’ve said before, so we nullified that easily in the game and we were up by much as 12 points at one point of the game.”

That strategy employed by Martell paid rich dividends, as Campion dominated the first two quarters to carve open a 39-24 half-time lead.

But Old Harbour, the 2012/13 season champions and many-time finalists, fought back as expected, particularly in the final quarter when the talented Isaacs could not take any further part in a pulsating battle that lived up to all the pre-final hype.

Campion’s Micah-Imani Swaine led all scorers with a game high 19 points, while the influential Isaacs had 16 points and 10 rebounds. However, it was the all-round game of Ralph Thomas, who was later named most valuable player (MVP) of the final that made a telling difference between these two top teams, scoring 10 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and seven assists.

Four Old Harbour players recorded double figures with Shadaine Robinson registering a team high 12 points in addition to 18 rebounds and seven assists. The usually effective Chad Avis and Derjean Royal were kept quiet, with the former scoring 11 points and 22 boards, while the latter also had 11 points along with 17 rebounds. Joel Morgan supported with 10 points and 20 rebounds.

Having guided Old Harbour to a ninth national final, coach Ricardo Edwards is still pleased with what they’ve accomplished this season.

“The team beat us twice, very good team and commendations to them,” Edwards told Old Harbour News. “We basically lost the game in the third quarter where we made some individual plays instead of some team plays.

“We missed some key shots,” he added. “We were slow out of the blocks, Campion executed well and they were more disciplined.

“We came back with a strong run in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t strong enough. But a team had to win and Campion won.

“I’m still proud of my boys, they did well.”

Martell said sticking to the game plan throughout made a significant difference compared to the conference final which they won by virtually the last shot of the game.

“We knew that some persons were saying in the first final that it was a lucky shot but we proved that it wasn’t really lucky; it was that Old Harbour was outplayed, outcoached and outclassed,” he said. 

Meantime at the same venue, St George’s College won the Under-19 title, beating Christiana 58-48. Jordan Gillies of St George’s was named MVP after a game high 24 points, 21 rebounds and eight steals.

Camperdown secured third place in the Under-19 category, getting past St Catherine 64-59 in overtime.